Tortured!

I'm waiting to receive my manuscript back from my new editor at Crescent Moon Press. First Dragon is the first book in my latest epic fantasy series. The book has three main characters sharing the danger, battles and ... well ... difficulties of epic proportions. I know I have a good plot but I'm a little worried if I've made things difficult enough for those three people. Have I tortured my protagonists enough?

I think of all the books I love, the movies I enjoy, and I know the best ones are the ones where the main characters suffer greatly and then overcome it all. 2012's offering of hero movies certainly followed the formula from Dark Night Rising and The Avengers.

Besides my epic fantasy novels, I also write fantasy romance under the pen name, Susan Kelley. I have a contract for another novel with my publisher coming out later this year. Romance usually requires a 'happily ever after,' but that doesn't mean the characters shouldn't be tortured before they get there.  I know I've done a pretty good job of it in some of my previous novels. One Good Woman might be the one with my most tortured characters who finally find happiness. I love those characters because they react to the adversary in their lives in complete opposite ways yet somehow both come to the same point of healing and redemption.

Have I tortured my characters in First Dragon enough? I guess my new editor will let me know. Do you torture your characters? Do you ever worry you're too nice to your protagonists?

Low Pricing: Does it Work?

Does pricing your book at a very low price work? The small independent press who publishes my romance novels, New Concepts Publishing, is doing its best to help author sell their books.  A few months ago, they informed me they would be reducing one of my earlier fantasy romances to the low price of $1.99 in an attempt to stimulate more sales and hopefully some new readers for my other books. Sometime this week I should get my statement for the last quarter of 2011 and be able to see if there was a bump in my sales for that book and if it translated to more sales for the rest of them.  Of course, I might not see it until the next statement since it takes a while to get sales numbers back from third party ebook retailers.

Maybe then I'll have an answer to the question I started this blog with instead of guessing, hoping and repeating what I've read elsewhere.  There are many authors who have posted on other blogs of the thousands of dollars they've made by self-publishing and pricing their books at prices well below those decided upon by the big NY literary companies.  I know there are numerous examples of those hard-working and well-deserving writers, but I'm also sure there are thousands more authors trying to follow their lead and still only making pennies.  How can I join the elite ranks of those bringing home a real pay check from their books?

It's not a secret or magic.  Word of mouth, or word by blog, or by reviews, is still the best way to let people know about and want your book.  But readers won't spread the word unless they like your book.  So the secret, the magic, is writing a good book.  A great book with memorable characters and an intriguing plot.  Then make it available for a reasonable price.

Available for $1.99

New Concepts set my book, One Good Woman, at $1.99.  OGW is the fourth book in The Chronicles of Solonia, a fantasy romance series.  This fourth book is the shortest of the series with only about 80,000 words so it makes sense to price it lower than the others.  Of course, I think it's a good book and it received excellent reviews.  It will make you laugh, cry and cheer for the young couple who rise above their damaged pasts and find the courage to face the future.

One Good Woman, written under my pen name, Susan Kelley, is available for Kindle and all other ebook retailers. 

Do you wonder how the price wars will turn out? Have you tried offering one of your books for free for a period of time? Did it work out? Have you ever found an author you liked by sampling some of their free work?

Series Titles

Covers and titles can draw in readers is you're not an author known everywhere by your name alone.  I write my books in series and I try to make the titles not only indicative of the book content but also somewhat connected to the previous books.  Lots of authors do this and much better than I do.  For instance, does anyone doubt Alex Cavanaugh's upcoming book, Cassafire, is in a series with Cassastar?  The titles let you know the books are related without seeing the author's name.

I tried that in my very first romance series, The Chronicles of Solonia.  The series started with The Greater Good, followed by The Lesser Evil, A Ruthless Good and the wrap up novel, One Good Woman.  The titles weren't perfect matches but they were connected enough to seem like they went together.  

Today my clever publisher is running a special on that last book, One Good Woman, at $1.99, as an early promotion for the my next Tiger book coming out in December.  One Good Woman is the featured book today at New Concepts Publishing.  I hope you can check it out.

Do you write in series and try to give your book titles similar titles?  Do you know an author who is exceptionally clever with titles?

Write Faster!

What really gets the engine fired up for a writer? A new contract, the light at the end of a book, a new contract? For me a lot of different things will keep my butt in the chair and fingers on the keyboard.

Last week it was receiving the new cover for my second book in my fantasy series, The Futhark Chronicles. You already heard me squeal about Beyond the Gate. Then I received an unexpected royalty check. Is anything better than that?

Then a member of CPRW, shout out to Joyce, had a great period of writing. Later another member, Elizabeth, had her first sale of a short story. They inspire me.

Today I finally received my print copies of the fourth book in The Chronicles of Solonia, One Good Woman. I've been waiting forever for those to arrive.

All these things, including the light at the end of a book, have kept my word count adding up. One of my students at school told me her mom bought my book and she asked me if I would sign it if she brought it in to school. So I've been writing faster. I have until Saturday to reach my month's goal of 35,000 words. I'm close but I've needed all those little nudges from my colleagues and the mail.

Do you set goals and make them public? Do you usually reach them? What inspires you to write faster?

Love Coffee Time

Not only do I love to drink that dark brew with all its healthy benefits, I love the review site, Coffee Time Romance. They gave me my first review ever for my first romance novel, The Greater Good.

The Greater Good is the first book in The Chronicles of Solonia. The Lesser Evil and A Ruthless Good followed that first book and this past December I ended the series with One Good Woman. And this week Coffee Time Romance blessed the book with a five cup rating of excellence.

It's sad to end a series I've loved and especially this one. The idea behind this series was the nagging need that drove me to try my hand at writing. Thank you, New Concepts, for believing in me and all the readers who bought the books and proved their faith.

Thank you, Coffee Time, for the wonderful words and support. And thank you, Lotoya, for your excellent review.

Read it here.

Is Coffee Time a place you go to read reviews? If not there, what sites or sources do you visit to check out a book before you invest?

Bless This Mess

What does it take to bring comfort and keep the creative vibes flowing for a writer? Some of us like complete silence and others prefer the background sound of music pounding out a beat to fit the mood of our story.

What about our physical surroundings? For me, warmth is the top priority and after that is something to put my feet up on. My day job, the bill-paying one, expects me to be on my feet all day. When I write in the evenings and on weekends, I like to rest my poor tired legs on a soft stool.

Then there are the tools of the trade. I used to think that meant my computer and the journal I kept all my characters and world building straight in. Now I know better. Convenient to hand must be my Flip Dictionary which I love over any Thesaurus and my massive Websters Universal College Dictionary with the incredibly small print. On the other hand is my 2010 weekly schedule book. One or two reference books helping me with my current WIP. This book they happened to be my mineral and crystal reference, Herbal Medicines and a lore book about all kinds of legends.

Spinning my desk around I can grab one of my three ring binders I use to keep my different series and all their paperwork organized in. Since I'm published with three different publishers I often refer back to their guidelines for formatting issues. Each one has a few different things in the style they prefer. Here I have lists of contact information, copies of contracts, hard copies of any interview or review for those books and of course, color copies of the covers. There is one for my newest fantasy series but since I haven't sold it yet the binder is a bit empty.

As you can see from the pictures, I actually work at two desks. One is a simple writing desk ($99 at Office Max) where I work on my laptop. Often the surface is covered with sticky notes reminding me of tasks I must complete or simply the time of an appointment. The other desk holds promotional items, files of things I'm getting to someday and usually one or two magazines I'm going to read someday. Here is my the folder I toss my tax receipts in until I take the time to organize them. There I put my alpha smart until I'm ready to use it again. So many untended but not unloved folders languish there with half started or outlined novels. Someday.

My chair is a simple one I paid less than $50 for at another office store. And a little bookshelf with my most used reference books on sits by my left hand. I have a bunch more of those but I have to get up to get them.

The room itself is a small sitting room at the front of the house I made into my office. It even has a fireplace and gets the morning sun. Completing the entire comfy set up is a folded paper towel I use as my coaster for cups of coffee or hot tea, iced seltzer water or perhaps a goblet of chilled wine. I'm finishing up my ice coffee right now and will probably had one glass of wine later tonight.

How do you arrange your writing area for comfort? Is it private or does the family interrupt you constantly? Do you do anything special to keep different WIPs organized and separate in your mind?

Lovely review for One Good Woman

What a pleasant surprise today when the author liaison from my publisher contacted me about a new review for One Good Woman from TwoLips Reviews. I didn't even know they had my book on their list to check out and there it was.

Not only did the reviewer, Merrylee, say wonderful things about One Good Woman, her words made it obvious she had read the previous three books in the series and loved them also. She put into words many of my own feelings about the ending of The Chronicles of Solonia Series.

In a few short paragraphs she summed up the goals I had with this last book of leaving my loyal readers satisfied with not only the outcome of the relationships in the various books but also the future of the societies depicted in the series.

Romance writers always talk about the HEA, happily ever after, and how it is an intricate part of a romance. I'm positive this book and the ending of this series has provided a very HEA even if the characters suffered some torment to get there.

Have you ever read a romance series loyally only to be disappointed not because it ended by how it ended?

One Good Woman Released in Print

Woohoo! My publisher released One Good Woman in print two days before Christmas. I'm thrilled to have it out so soon after the e-book releases. Even more, I hope there's hundreds of thousands of new owners of e-readers out there.

One Good Woman is the culminating novel of The Chronicles of Solonia, a futuristic series published by New Concepts Publishing. Two recurring but much loved characters from the first three novels, The Greater Good, The Lesser Evil and A Ruthless Good find their own happiness in a destiny determined from when they first met. I think readers of the first three books will be completely satisfied with the answering of questions raised by the first three tales.

I know of several of my readers who always wait for the print book but I'm really hoping some of the lucky people received their new Sony or other reader for Christmas decide to give one of my books a try.

How about you? Did you receive an e-reader for Christmas or did one of your friends? Did you buy one for someone? If you did get one, are you going to purchase some authors you might not have tried on print?

One Good Woman

My publisher, New Concepts Publishing, presented me with an early holiday gift. For whatever reason, they were able to move my futuristic romance novel, One Good Woman, up in the publishing schedule. Instead of being released next February, it is now available in ebook format from my publisher's site.

One Good Woman continues and completes my futuristic romance series, The Solonian Chronicles. Not only does this novel bring together two favorite characters with their own story, it wraps up the entire series with a message of hope and courage.

For those of you not familiar with this series, Solonia is a small colony composed of all women set in a future earth. The world has been sent back to a pre-technological era after an asteroid strikes the earth. Humans survive in small colonies and everyday is a struggle. Solonia believed they were the only survivors for centuries. When a wasting sickness devastated their male population, many of their men turned to a steroid like plant product and turned into vicious sub-human beasts. With their population slowly dwindling, the Solonia women turn to a band of shipwrecked colonists newly arrived on their continent. The Realm is composed of courageous adventurers. The blending of the two people strikes sparks as the cautious, distrustful women of Solonia dare to fall in love with the risk taking, heroic men of the Realm.

Each book starts with a historical account of the time as recorded in the work from one of the rebirthed universities of the time. Read the histories for all four books here.

My publisher as offered the first chapter free on their website and I've added another excerpt to my website.

If you've been a fan of the first three books, I know you'll love this one. I'm sad to see this series end. The Greater Good was the first book I ever wrote. After many revisions it found a home at New Concepts. I thank them for taking a chance on a new author and all the readers who also risked trying out an unknown.

Diving In Again

I'm about to say good bye for another week or more. I received my first edits back from my editor for To Tame a Tiger. She said it's all pretty good and not much needs done, but it's still a 104,000 word book that has to be read slowly and carefully. So I might not be blogging for a little while.
On some other good news, I queried my editor at NCP about One Good Woman last night and she said 'sure, send it.' A response in less than 24 hours. You gotta love that. Andrea is so nice. She's usually very efficient also, so hopefully I hear back on that within a few months.
So I'm going to select a movie to put on in the background and then dive right in to breach once more. I hope to surface by the end of next weekend.

Like an Arrow

I haven't updated this blog for almost two weeks. It wasn't lazinees or distraction from my writing career. It was the opposite. I'm nearly finished with my last rewrites and edits on One Good Woman, the fourth book in my The Chronicles of Solonia series that I have with New Concepts Publishing. I'm down to redoing the last three chapters which do need to have a number of things added, some scenes lenghtened and other plot points clarified so there are no lose ends. This book in the last in that series and I believe my loyal readers will find it very satisfying. But back to my recent neglect of my blog and even visiting the blogs of my friends.
When I'm closing in on the finish to a book, I tend to get completely focused on it. I want to work on it 24/7 until I type in The End. That's what I've been doing with every hour and minute I could squeeze out of the last few days. I've told my children they're on their own for more than one meal over the past seven days. I did feel a little guilty so today I baked some fish and made bread, but it wasn't exactly gourmet dining. So I''m going back to my book right now and work until my fingers start to bleed and my eyes dry out.
How about you? Do you ever get so focused on your WIP you can't think about anything else?